Thread: Scott Kalitta crash

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well if you think that the all mighty 1320' feet is more important than keeping the drivers who entertain you safe. then the nhra doesnt need fans like you. IMHO.

Originally Posted by gassersrule_196

well if you think that the all mighty 1320' feet is more important than keeping the drivers who entertain you safe. then the nhra doesnt need fans like you. IMHO.

Where were you the run before Scott got killed? Protesting the 1320', I'm sure Or how about last week? Why was it so safe to run 1320' last week, but not next? This won't solve anything. Last week in Norwalk, they had an Alky Funny car go completely throught the sand trap.....and he doesn't go 300 mph. So taking out 320' isn't gonna prevent anything.

I'm fairly disappointed in the decision particularly as this goes into effect at my home track... I'll be attending the Mile High's next week. We all were pretty excited to see how the big dogs would run on our new (all concrete) track surface with integrated cooling at the short end... we were expecting to see new Bandimere track records for the fuel categories as we had seen for the TAD and TAFC races a few weeks ago. Now any times we see will be nearly meaningless... put an asterisk next to any results we see next week

I'm all for safety but I'm not happy with this situation...

Oh well...

-Chris

Originally Posted by gassersrule_196

well if you think that the all mighty 1320' feet is more important than keeping the drivers who entertain you safe. then the nhra doesnt need fans like you. IMHO.

Scooter, there's more to it than just running to 1000'. Brandon Bernstein scaled the wall at less than a 1000', Eric Medlen was killed at less than a 1000', and John Force almost bought the farm again at less than a 1000'. Sad to say I've witnessed a few serious crashes and deaths at drag strips down through the years starting with Don Garlit's major fire at Detroit in '59. Almost all of them led to safety improvements of one kind or another, but a short track with concrete barriers or trees at the end the track is NOT conducive to safety and those tracks need improvements or need to be shut down.
IMHO opinion the tracks with concrete launches and transition to asphalt cause more problems than they are worth. It is almost impossible to create a smooth surface at the transition which in turn causes tire smoking, engine backfires, blower explosions and ultimately fires and out of control cars and it's damned hard to control a Funny when you can't see where you are going.

You probably know that NHRA has tried putting all kinds of limits on the cars, to reduce speeds, and that clearly is not working. Limiting the length makes more sense. You may be able to find more horsepower...but you would still be limited by traction and distance. It's more foolproof way of accomplishing the goal.

I am one of many who suggested this "shorter race distance" to NHRA. I grew up going to the 1/8th mile drags. They were every bit as exciting as the 1/4 mile events! One thing I never liked about the longer track was that once the cars were downtrack, it was too hard to see who was ahead, any way! Beside that, the last 300 feet is only a fraction of a second, at those speeds.

This would give a longer shut off area, reduce breakage, pull the speeds down to about 300, and just makes sense. I did not however suggest 1/8th mile, as this would limit the speeds that NHRA wants fans to talk about. I suggested 1000 feet, or 1/5th mile (1056).

I think that once you go to one of these races, you will not see much difference in the racing. The experience of watching these monsters is much more than 4 seconds. There is the hype from the announcer, the fireup, burnout, staging, starting line game, then the race, and the talk afterward. I for one will not miss that fraction of a second, and maybe one of my favorite drivers will live longer.

With any human endeavor that involves speed accidents and unfortunately deaths are inevitable, Running the pro fuels classes at 1/8 mile would, IMHO opinion, be no different than NASCAR restrictor plate races.

Im agree with HRP, are you really gonna notice any difference? And from my spectator experience, most in the stands will never see a change. Yeah you still have the diehards, but at least halve these days do not know what the tree is, much less how many feet they run.

The decision was unanimous by PRO that includes the Drivers who are the ones putting their lives on the line. That is good enough for me.

Originally Posted by pro70z28

The decision was unanimous by PRO that includes the Drivers who are the ones putting their lives on the line. That is good enough for me.

I don't have a problem with that, I just don't think it will solve the problem.

I'm for anything that improves driver safety, I'm sure this is an interim measure.... Granted, their are incidents before the 1000' foot line but most of the big ones are on the big end.... Nothing will solve all the safety issues, but this will certainly be a temporary solution for some of them....

Drag racing is about who gets to the other end first... I seriously doubt taking 320' off the end of the run is going to lessen and of the intensity of being first.... The only thing more mile an hour does is occasionaly set a record....big deal... You can run 340 mph, but if you ain't the one to the other end first, you lose.... If the drivers consider it a necessary safety precaution that should say everything that needs to be said...they're the one's doing it and the majority of them have years of experience doing it and now far more about resolving safety issues then any of us spectators ever will.... 100 yds shorter is nothing if it means preventing just one more incident like happened at E-town....

Shorter track distances?? I really hate to piss off the track owners and the NHRA, but they need longer, newer tracks. Use the old ones for races with less powerful cars or amateur racing. If they want the people and the network coverage, and all of the money that follows, they need newer, longer and safer tracks.

You got to know your limitations. You don't try to land the space shuttle on a runway designed for DC3's and pipers. You want the big stuff, you gotta have the resources.

I concur, Bob... e-town shutdown is too short and too flat. Here at Bandimere we have a very generous shutdown with a pretty steep uphill grade... at 113mph I could make the turn for the return road without even hitting the brakes... granted 300+mph is another ballgame.

Only fatality I know about at Bandimere in 50 years was an exhibition rocket car that launched itself into the mountain I believe that turned out to be chute failure amongst other problems...

I guess my point is similar to Bob's in that if you want the big boys to play with you, you need to have adequate facilities.

I'm deeply saddened by the loss of Scott Kalitta and I do not believe in needlessly endangering anyone beyond the inherent dangers associated with pro racing. I guess I have my own selfish interests at heart in my disappointment with the 1000' ruling.

I'm sure NHRA will go back to 1320' after adding some additional safety measures like stricter catch net requirements or innovations as mentioned above using tailhooks or something along those lines but in the meantime the ET records won't mean a thing being apples and oranges.

-Chris

i belive it is a good idea until they can figure out what to do with these older tracks if this would of happened at gainesville scott would still be here. it is inteded to be an temporary measure to keep the drivers safe if they want to cut it to a 1000' it should be their choice they are the ones driving. it is just like the nitro cut people complained about that but they still ran the same times. so quit yer griping wait a while and all will be back to normal AFTER more vigorous drive safety measures have been inacted and reviewed. i think for a temporary solution it will be ok. they are still going to be hitting the 300mph speeds. and quite frankly when 40% of the crowd is so drunk all they care about is loud noises and screaming and spilling beer on you i hope it does drive those kind out of the stands!!!!

Originally Posted by mopar34

Shorter track distances?? I really hate to piss off the track owners and the NHRA, but they need longer, newer tracks. Use the old ones for races with less powerful cars or amateur racing. If they want the people and the network coverage, and all of the money that follows, they need newer, longer and safer tracks.

You got to know your limitations. You don't try to land the space shuttle on a runway designed for DC3's and pipers. You want the big stuff, you gotta have the resources.

My point exactly. I don't give a rat's a** how big you are or how long you've been with the sport or anything else, it's the spectators who pay the bills and without them you go home, period. Every national event I've been to the stands for the most part clear out after Top Fuel and Funny Car and definitely after Pro Stock. Most fans could care less about bracket racing even though it is the backbone of the sport. That is reality.

which is a shame. because theres more of us then them